Spook Baby

Spook Baby is a horror/comedy made in 2004-2005 in and around Lynchburg, Va. The whole project started out with a conversation between (very, very) amateur filmmaker Suzanne Ramsey and her cousin, Priscilla, at a family reunion in Kentucky. The cousins had an idea: write a horror movie and film it at next year's family reunion.

That didn't exactly happen, but what Suzanne did do was write a screenplay; buy a $300 mini-DV video camera, some tapes and a wobbly tripod; acquire some editing software and some basic instructions for using it; gather family, friends and friends of friends; and embark on an adventure she called "Spook Baby." (It’s a movie about the ghost of a dead baby, so the title just made sense.)

Suzanne talked people into letting her use their barns, ponds, fields and other property; talked a rap artist (Starr Nyce) and a country rock band (Point Judith) into letting her use their music; and had friends of a friend write an original score.

All told, the entire production cost less than $1,000, including equipment. Everyone (thankfully) worked for free. You might say, “Yeah, and it looks like it, too,” but Suzanne contends, “ ‘Spook Baby’ beats the hell out of ‘Van Helsing’ any day of the week.” So there.